# Interesting answers to my history bonus questions... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580 "2007-12-19T15:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/21 "2007-12-21T23:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I need to know, tho - you were asking for St. Augustine, right? [/QUOTE] Posted this earlier. [QUOTE=RancidYakButterTeaParty] I should have included in my question that I asked specifically for an English settlement. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/22 "2007-12-21T23:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=RancidYakButterTeaParty] I should have included in my question that I asked specifically for an English settlement. [/QUOTE] Because England is more important than Spain, or Virginia is more important than Florida? What was the first permanent French settlement in the U.S.? How about the Dutch? It seems odd to me to put more importance on English settlements. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/23 "2007-12-21T23:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=RancidYakButterTeaParty] I should have included in my question that I asked specifically for an English settlement. [/QUOTE] And that you were looking for a settlement in _what later became_ the United States? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/24 "2007-12-22T00:16:02Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just wired differently but I loved history (still do!). And apparently its rubbed off on my son. At our annual Boy Scout Troop Holiday Party Monday night, one of the fathers came up with a trivia list of about 30 questions and those Scouts who got a question correct got a prize (nerf footballs, playing cards, etc.). One of the questions he asked was, “Who are the only two U.S. President’s that were impeached?” Hands shot up. “Nixon and… uh… Washington?” was the first answer. Wrongo. Immediately all but a few hands disappeared, “One of the Roosevelts?” was the next try. Finally, after a few more attempts, my son was called upon. “Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton.” I couldn’t have been more proud. On our drive home I told him so and asked him where he learned that factoid. He said he knows a lot of that stuff from all of my “blathering.” That’s the word he used – blathering. Then he said he thought that if he had gotten it wrong he knew he’d have had to listen to me tell the whole story about how Johnson escaped the wrath of the Democrats by 1 vote and that he didn’t want to here that story again. Smart kid he. Maybe today I’ll regale him about how McClellan and Army of the Potomic’s inactivity doomed the Peninsula Campaign to failure. eah, I’ll give him blather… [/QUOTE] Sad story: Last year, at my wife’s school (she teacher middle school) they had a trivia game during a staff development day. One of the questions was “how many presidents have been impeached?” The official answer–developed by a team of educators–was 3; they included Nixon. My wife (a music teacher), argued her team into the correct answer (then successfully argued with the answer givers). The scariest part is that one of her team members agreed with her about the number, but thought that the two were Johnson and Nixon, because “Clinton wasn’t removed from office.” The man is a social studies teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/25 "2007-12-22T02:47:34Z")
Hrm. Can someone fight my ignorance? I didn’t think Clinton was actually impeached. If he wasn’t removed from office, what was the point? ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/26 "2007-12-22T03:01:31Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Hrm. Can someone fight my ignorance? I didn’t think Clinton was actually impeached. If he wasn’t removed from office, what was the point? [/QUOTE] Impeachment is putting someone on trial. Conviction of an impeachment leads to removal from office. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/27 "2007-12-22T03:03:49Z")
I thought Nixon was put on trial. Or was that just a congressional hearing? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/28 "2007-12-22T03:08:57Z")
Impeachment and Senate trial respectively are analogous to grand jury indictment for a felony and superior court trial. You can’t have the second without the first preceding it, but having gotten the first in place does not guarantee a conviction in the second. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/29 "2007-12-22T03:21:59Z")
Ah, OK. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/30 "2007-12-22T03:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Because England is more important than Spain, or Virginia is more important than Florida? What was the first permanent French settlement in the U.S.? How about the Dutch? It seems odd to me to put more importance on English settlements. [/QUOTE] It’s just a question man, relax. I don’t think the fact that I asked the question that way put any more importance on the English settlements at all–it’s just the question that came to mind at the time. I find it interesting that the point of my thread has pretty much been ignored while most of you that have responded have taken instead to questioning everything from my motives, to the answers, and the questions themselves. I apologize for the grammatical errors I made when I posted–but I’m pretty sure that most of you understood what I was attempting to start a discussion about. As I said before, I’m trying to show these students that it’s good to have knowledge in all areas. If I can get even one of these kids to become more interested in history or social studies so they can score “bonus” points for their review team at the end of my class twice a month–then I consider it to be well worth the time. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/31 "2007-12-22T15:54:12Z")
FWIW, **RYBTP** , the sixth grade me would’ve LOVED the idea of being in a math class and having that kind of a “quiz”. I would have thought you were my kind of teacher. And actually I did have a handful of teachers through the years that did that kind of stuff, and I have fond memories of that. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/32 "2007-12-22T16:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > “Everyone knows that George Washington was our first president, but who knows our second president?” Most people who had my 7th grade history teacher probably would have been able to answer that…she made us all learn to sing the presidents in order to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Seventeen years later, I can still do it. (Although my song doesn’t end quite right, as it only goes to Bush Sr., who was president when I was in 7th grade. Fortunately, I can remember the presidents since then all by myself.) It really impresses at parties. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580/33 "2007-12-24T00:32:08Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Where, where? [/QUOTE] Originally Posted by ChiefScott “…Finally, after a few more attempts, my son was called upon. Then he said he thought that if he had gotten it wrong he knew he’d have had to listen to me tell the whole story about how Johnson escaped the wrath of the Democrats by 1 vote and that he didn’t want to **here** that story again…” Originally posted by Ignatz: Here, here! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-answers-to-my-history-bonus-questions/430580.md?page=1)